Various different forms of forged steel hold-downs are utilized in the rail transportation industry for the purpose of properly guiding the wing rail and attached horn fitting components of trackwork spring frog installations during their frequent lateral displacement in the course of normal spring frog installation operations. Spring frog installation operation over prolonged time causes excessive wear of certain restraint surfaces in the known hold-down assemblies, and leads to the necessity of having to either make substantial hold-down assembly repairs or sometimes replacing the complete assembly. Such remedial actions are labor intensive, are time-consuming, and are quite difficult to undertake and accomplish if rail traffic over the spring frog installation is particularly heavy.
We have discovered that the maintenance shortcomings of the known wing rail hold-down constructions may be readily overcome by incorporating the improved wing rail hold-down of our invention into a trackwork spring frog installation and yet provide for the proper guidance of the co-operating wing rail and attached horn fitting components during spring frog operation.
Other objectives and advantages of our invention will become apparent from consideration of the summary, descriptions, drawings, and claims which follow.